Farm Credit East recently launched a section on its website containing snapshots for nine Northeast agriculture industries.
These snapshots provide industry-specific year-to-date updates on economic conditions in various sectors of agriculture.
Snapshots are available for the Northeast’s dairy, fruit, vegetable, nursery and greenhouse, cash field, timber, aquatic/fishing, and livestock industries, as well as an update and outlook on input costs for the region’s producers.
These snapshots will be updated on a quarterly basis and also contain links to other resources and recent articles relating to each industry.
The most recent update reports that overall, U.S. agriculture, as well as that of the Northeast, continues to face some challenging market conditions, but there are also a number of bright spots and some improvements are in the forecast.
Cash field crops in particular are dealing with adverse pricing and while dairy prices are improving, there continue to be marketing challenges in some areas. Nursery and greenhouse, which have had improving economic conditions for the past few years, are reporting relatively good spring results.
To dive deeper into industry-specific snapshots, visit FarmCreditEast.com.
Showing posts with label Farm Credit East. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farm Credit East. Show all posts
Monday, July 31, 2017
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Webinar on Food Safety Modernization Act Set for Dec. 20
A seminar about the Food Safety Modernization act is coming up.
Read more about it at http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/farm-credit-east-hosts-webinar-on-food-safety-modernization-act--20161213 this link.
Read more about it at http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/farm-credit-east-hosts-webinar-on-food-safety-modernization-act--20161213 this link.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Chris Fesko Combines Ag and Teaching
From Empire Farm & Dairy magazine
By DEBRA J. GROOM
There are probably a lot of words to describe Chris Fesko.
But the one that fits best is “teacher.”
Her mind is constantly churning, left and right, up and down, trying to figure out the best way to teach children concepts they need to know to survive in today’s world.
She knows she has to be inventive, she knows she has to be fun, she knows she has to be engaging.
She is all those things.
“My daughter is in kindergarten, and she was here two weeks ago,” second-grade teacher Jennifer Ridley told Chris during a visit with her class to Fesko’s On the Farm Discovery Center in Spafford, Onondaga County. “She hasn’t stopped talking about it. She asks us if we know how to tell if animals are mammals. She talks about holding the chicks. And she can’t wait to come back here.”
Fesko has received numerous honors for her work at the On the Farm Discovery Center and for the series of farm videos she has made for children.
She’s won Parent’s Choice Awards and Telly Awards. Most recently, she was honored by Farm Credit as one of 100 agriculture innovators in the United States.
In June, Fesko was in Washington D.C. to be honored by Farm Credit, which selected 100 people from across the country (in celebration of its 100th anniversary) as agriculture innovators. Fesko was the top person chosen in the agriculture education category and was in the top 10 of the 100 honored.
“The Farm Credit 100 Fresh Perspectives program was launched to recognize leaders who are positively shaping agriculture and rural communities,” according to the Farm Credit website. “The individuals chosen for the Fresh Perspectives program were selected by a panel of experts on issues important to rural residents and ag producers.”
“I’ve known Chris for 25 years,” said Janice Bitter, director of the Farm Credit East office in Homer, Cortland County. “I’ve watched as she has taken this business higher and higher. She gets so excited when she teaches — she teaches them practical things about math and science. It’s amazing the interactions she has with kids.”
At the Discovery Center
A visit to a farm usually is an exciting adventure for most children. But Fesko makes it more than just exciting.
Those kids leave the On the Farm Discovery Center with so much knowledge it’s no wonder their little heads don’t pop.
On a bright, sunny, warm day in late May, nearly 100 second-graders from Owasco Elementary School in the Auburn school district stopped in for a day with Fesko. They broke up into smaller groups and headed off to different parts of the discovery center.
At the pond, they caught frogs in various stages of development. They learned about and saw the polliwogs, partial frogs with polliwog tails and fully developed frogs.
In the barn, they learned about pulleys and levers and how these help people do their work. The kids got the chance to use a pully, but of course, when they pulled, Fesko said, “C’mon, you have to yell when you pull for it to work.”
Some mighty grunts and groans could be heard bellowing from the barn.
In the animal area, the children saw horses, sheep, pigs, goats and a lamb. With the assistance of Fesko’s helper, Debbie Putnam, the children learned what makes an animal a mammal.
“Mammals make milk,” Fesko told them. “Mammals feed milk to their babies. Mammals have hair or fur.”
She showed them a rooster. “Is this a mammal?” she asked.
“No,” the children said in unison.
Even something as simple as water coming out of a pump pushed up and down by Fesko is a teaching moment. The kids were delighted to refresh their faces and hands with the cold water coming from the pump, but Fesko made sure they learned about the windmill and how it was drawing water up from the well so she could pump it out for the kids.
The beginnings
Fesko has a teaching degree from SUNY Cortland and at one time taught in the Skaneateles school district, west of Syracuse. She also worked as a substitute teacher at one time and was a soccer coach in her early years of marriage and while raising her own three children.
But her background of being raised on a small farm in Upstate New York brought her to combine agriculture with education.
It all began when she saw a woman with a camera at one of her pastures.
“She pulled in our yard and said, ‘Can I take a picture of your cow?’” Fesko remembered. Problem was, the animal wasn’t a cow — it was a black and white horse.
“You just insulted my horse,” Fesko told the woman. “You can take a picture of my horse Joe, but you have to apologize to him.”
The woman knew cows were black and white and asssumed the black and white animal in the pasture was a cow. Fesko told the story to her husband, Rick, and he convinced her that “somebody’s got to do something.”
Out of this came her foray into videos. In 1993, she came out with Summer on the Farm, the first in her On The Farm series.
“It took $30,000 to make the first one, and I just hoped it would pay for itself,” she said.
Today, she has written, produced and filmed 11 videos that have been used to teach children around the world about life on the farm, animals and agriculture. The videos have won four Telly Awards, eight Parents’ Choice awards and many other honors.
The way we put the videos together was to feed the brain,” Fesko said. “We wanted to show them visually what’s going on on the farm.”
Fesko is a big believer is letting kids experience things first hand. She knows if they actually use a tool to perform a task, or touch the skin of a pig, or see why some trees have been cut down, then they will remember it long into the future and understand the concept she’s trying to teach.
After the videos
After a few years of doing more videos, working on staff development days at area schools and writing some curricula for pre-kindergarten and up, she opened the On the Farm Discovery Center. She said people and teachers loved the videos, but wondered if there was a place where they could bring children in person to learn about agriculture.
In 2000, Fesko hauled an old, dilapidated barn up the hill at her farm, put on a new room and drew up the sessions that would be held at the discovery center. The first year, 1999-2000, she welcomed 60 children.
“This year, we had 2,200 kids through here,” she said.
The Discovery Center helps Fesko teach the way she wants to teach — hands on. The children get the chance to touch and see frogs and tadpoles up close and personal. They see and touch the farm animals. They get to try their hands at using various tools (pullies, levers, pumps) and learn the science and math that goes into making these tools.
She takes kids out in the woods to learn about nature.
One story Fesko loves to tell is about a third-grader from Porter Elementary in the Syracuse City School District.
“We were taking the Woods Wander to learn about the cycle of life of a tree, the habitat in the woods and forest management,” Fesko said. “There was a tree that had died and I asked, ‘So why did that tree die?’ This kid had all the answers — the soil, water, oxygen.”
But the dead tree was 10 feet tall. Next to it were some 16-foot-high trees that were alive and doing fine. She asked why those trees were alive while the one died.
Finally the little boy got it.
“This one didn’t get any sunshine,” he told Fesko. And she went on to explain to him that if that dead tree is removed from the forest, then “all these baby trees can grow,” she said pointing to the newly sprouted trees on the ground.
“You could see it in him,” she said — he understood the process. She went on to tell him that if he thought all this was cool and liked being in the woods, there was a college right in Syracuse where he could study forest management and spend his career in the forest.
Fesko also is sought after for speaking engagements across the country. She speaks passionately about farming and agriculture and wants to “help farm kids feel better about growing up on a farm and inspire non-farm kids to want to grow up to be farmers,” according to the nomination written for her Farm Credit award.
But Fesko’s biggest paycheck comes from the children. She remembers a little girl from Le Moyne Elementary in the Syracuse City School District who got off the bus at the discovery center and marveled at the view of the hills and valleys and beautiful Skaneateles Lake in the distance.
“She started singing the Sound of Music, you know, ‘the hills are alive,’” Fesko said. “That is the reward. I know I filled a little void in their life that can’t be filled anywhere else.”
By DEBRA J. GROOM
There are probably a lot of words to describe Chris Fesko.
But the one that fits best is “teacher.”
 |
| Chris Fesko |
She knows she has to be inventive, she knows she has to be fun, she knows she has to be engaging.
She is all those things.
“My daughter is in kindergarten, and she was here two weeks ago,” second-grade teacher Jennifer Ridley told Chris during a visit with her class to Fesko’s On the Farm Discovery Center in Spafford, Onondaga County. “She hasn’t stopped talking about it. She asks us if we know how to tell if animals are mammals. She talks about holding the chicks. And she can’t wait to come back here.”
Fesko has received numerous honors for her work at the On the Farm Discovery Center and for the series of farm videos she has made for children.
She’s won Parent’s Choice Awards and Telly Awards. Most recently, she was honored by Farm Credit as one of 100 agriculture innovators in the United States.
 |
| Chris Fesko pumps water for the children from Owasco Elementary School in Auburn during their visit to the On the Farm Discovery Center. The kids had the opportunity to learn how a windmill and pump worked to get water out of the underground well. |
“The Farm Credit 100 Fresh Perspectives program was launched to recognize leaders who are positively shaping agriculture and rural communities,” according to the Farm Credit website. “The individuals chosen for the Fresh Perspectives program were selected by a panel of experts on issues important to rural residents and ag producers.”
“I’ve known Chris for 25 years,” said Janice Bitter, director of the Farm Credit East office in Homer, Cortland County. “I’ve watched as she has taken this business higher and higher. She gets so excited when she teaches — she teaches them practical things about math and science. It’s amazing the interactions she has with kids.”
At the Discovery Center
A visit to a farm usually is an exciting adventure for most children. But Fesko makes it more than just exciting.
Those kids leave the On the Farm Discovery Center with so much knowledge it’s no wonder their little heads don’t pop.
 |
| Students from Owasco Elementary learn about pullies in the Discovery Center |
At the pond, they caught frogs in various stages of development. They learned about and saw the polliwogs, partial frogs with polliwog tails and fully developed frogs.
In the barn, they learned about pulleys and levers and how these help people do their work. The kids got the chance to use a pully, but of course, when they pulled, Fesko said, “C’mon, you have to yell when you pull for it to work.”
Some mighty grunts and groans could be heard bellowing from the barn.
In the animal area, the children saw horses, sheep, pigs, goats and a lamb. With the assistance of Fesko’s helper, Debbie Putnam, the children learned what makes an animal a mammal.
“Mammals make milk,” Fesko told them. “Mammals feed milk to their babies. Mammals have hair or fur.”
 |
| Debbie Putnam, one of Chris Fesko’s helpers at the On the Farm Discovery Center, shows a lamb to second-graders from Owasco Elementary School in Auburn. |
“No,” the children said in unison.
Even something as simple as water coming out of a pump pushed up and down by Fesko is a teaching moment. The kids were delighted to refresh their faces and hands with the cold water coming from the pump, but Fesko made sure they learned about the windmill and how it was drawing water up from the well so she could pump it out for the kids.
The beginnings
Fesko has a teaching degree from SUNY Cortland and at one time taught in the Skaneateles school district, west of Syracuse. She also worked as a substitute teacher at one time and was a soccer coach in her early years of marriage and while raising her own three children.
But her background of being raised on a small farm in Upstate New York brought her to combine agriculture with education.
It all began when she saw a woman with a camera at one of her pastures.
“She pulled in our yard and said, ‘Can I take a picture of your cow?’” Fesko remembered. Problem was, the animal wasn’t a cow — it was a black and white horse.
“You just insulted my horse,” Fesko told the woman. “You can take a picture of my horse Joe, but you have to apologize to him.”
The woman knew cows were black and white and asssumed the black and white animal in the pasture was a cow. Fesko told the story to her husband, Rick, and he convinced her that “somebody’s got to do something.”
Out of this came her foray into videos. In 1993, she came out with Summer on the Farm, the first in her On The Farm series.
“It took $30,000 to make the first one, and I just hoped it would pay for itself,” she said.
Today, she has written, produced and filmed 11 videos that have been used to teach children around the world about life on the farm, animals and agriculture. The videos have won four Telly Awards, eight Parents’ Choice awards and many other honors.
The way we put the videos together was to feed the brain,” Fesko said. “We wanted to show them visually what’s going on on the farm.”
After the videos
After a few years of doing more videos, working on staff development days at area schools and writing some curricula for pre-kindergarten and up, she opened the On the Farm Discovery Center. She said people and teachers loved the videos, but wondered if there was a place where they could bring children in person to learn about agriculture.
In 2000, Fesko hauled an old, dilapidated barn up the hill at her farm, put on a new room and drew up the sessions that would be held at the discovery center. The first year, 1999-2000, she welcomed 60 children.
“This year, we had 2,200 kids through here,” she said.
She takes kids out in the woods to learn about nature.
One story Fesko loves to tell is about a third-grader from Porter Elementary in the Syracuse City School District.
“We were taking the Woods Wander to learn about the cycle of life of a tree, the habitat in the woods and forest management,” Fesko said. “There was a tree that had died and I asked, ‘So why did that tree die?’ This kid had all the answers — the soil, water, oxygen.”
But the dead tree was 10 feet tall. Next to it were some 16-foot-high trees that were alive and doing fine. She asked why those trees were alive while the one died.
Finally the little boy got it.
“This one didn’t get any sunshine,” he told Fesko. And she went on to explain to him that if that dead tree is removed from the forest, then “all these baby trees can grow,” she said pointing to the newly sprouted trees on the ground.
“You could see it in him,” she said — he understood the process. She went on to tell him that if he thought all this was cool and liked being in the woods, there was a college right in Syracuse where he could study forest management and spend his career in the forest.
Fesko also is sought after for speaking engagements across the country. She speaks passionately about farming and agriculture and wants to “help farm kids feel better about growing up on a farm and inspire non-farm kids to want to grow up to be farmers,” according to the nomination written for her Farm Credit award.
But Fesko’s biggest paycheck comes from the children. She remembers a little girl from Le Moyne Elementary in the Syracuse City School District who got off the bus at the discovery center and marveled at the view of the hills and valleys and beautiful Skaneateles Lake in the distance.
“She started singing the Sound of Music, you know, ‘the hills are alive,’” Fesko said. “That is the reward. I know I filled a little void in their life that can’t be filled anywhere else.”
Friday, April 29, 2016
Dairy Webinar May 9 on Milk Pricing Situation
Farm
Credit East, the leading lender to the Northeast dairy industry, will host a
webinar to discuss 2015 Northeast dairy farm results and the current dairy
situation.
Dairy farmers and other interested parties are invited to
participate in this free webinar at 11 a.m., Monday, May 9.
2015
was a challenging year for Northeast dairy producers. Milk prices fell
dramatically from 2014 levels and it is not clear when there will be a price
recovery.
This webinar will review the results of the 2015 Northeast Dairy Farm
Summary and the current financial situation facing dairy farmers in the region.
Learn
more at this link: https://www.farmcrediteast.com/News-and-Events/News/20160428DairyWebinar.aspx
Register
at this link to attend the webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4643153315896747777
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
New Yorkers Honored by Farm Credit
Farm Credit is honoring 100 ag people as part of its 100th anniversary this year.
The Farm Credit 100 Fresh Perspectives Honorees include leaders and visionaries from across the country. Selected by a distinguished panel of industry representatives, the honorees are creating the future of agriculture and rural America through their dedication and innovation.
There are a number of honorees from New York state. They are:
Chris Fesko, town of Spafford in Onondaga County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/chris-fesko?category=top-100-honorees to see the writeup about her. She also was in the top 10 of this list.
Jessica Ziehm, Buskirk, Washington County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/jessica-ziehm?category=top-100-honorees to read about her and her work.
Nancy Robbins, Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/nancy-robbins?category=top-100-honorees to learn about her.
Dale-Ila Riggs, Stephentown, Rensselaer County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/dale-ila-riggs?category=top-100-honorees to read about her accomplishments.
Jim Hyland, New Paltz, Ulster County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/jim-hyland?category=top-100-honorees to find out about his work.
Levi Cahan, Whitehall, Washington County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/levi-cahan?category=top-100-honorees to learn about his work.
The Farm Credit 100 Fresh Perspectives Honorees include leaders and visionaries from across the country. Selected by a distinguished panel of industry representatives, the honorees are creating the future of agriculture and rural America through their dedication and innovation.
There are a number of honorees from New York state. They are:
Chris Fesko, town of Spafford in Onondaga County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/chris-fesko?category=top-100-honorees to see the writeup about her. She also was in the top 10 of this list.
Jessica Ziehm, Buskirk, Washington County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/jessica-ziehm?category=top-100-honorees to read about her and her work.
Nancy Robbins, Sackets Harbor, Jefferson County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/nancy-robbins?category=top-100-honorees to learn about her.
Dale-Ila Riggs, Stephentown, Rensselaer County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/dale-ila-riggs?category=top-100-honorees to read about her accomplishments.
Jim Hyland, New Paltz, Ulster County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/jim-hyland?category=top-100-honorees to find out about his work.
Levi Cahan, Whitehall, Washington County. Go to http://www.farmcredit100.com/fresh-perspectives/honorees/levi-cahan?category=top-100-honorees to learn about his work.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Friday, February 6, 2015
Farmer Insurance Program Feb. 9
There is will be webinar on insurance for farmers who grow grains and oilseeds from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 at Farm Credit East, 25417 Route 12, Burrville.
For information, call 782-6050.
For information, call 782-6050.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Farm Credit East Busts Farming Myths
Check out this story from Farm Credit East -- https://www.farmcrediteast.com/News-and-Events/News/20140714FarmingMyths.aspx
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
New York Animal Ag Coalition Receives Grant for New Birthing Exhibit at State Fair
Farm Credit East, the Northeast’s largest agricultural lender, is pleased to provide a $10,000 grant to the N.Y. Animal Agriculture Coalition.
These funds will be used to support a Dairy Cow Birthing Center to be exhibited at the New York State Fair. Go to http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8848512508283360066#editor/target=post;postID=916876283705658821;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname to see an earlier story about the new State Fair exhibit.
“Farm Credit East is very pleased to support the efforts of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition to help tell the great story of New York’s animal agriculture industry,” said Bill Lipinski, Farm Credit East CEO. “Our farmers do a great job of taking care of their animals and this Dairy Cow Birthing Center is an innovative idea that will be a great addition to the New York State Fair.”
The Dairy Cow Birthing Center will debut at the 2013 New York State Fair. Through a combination of live animals and educational displays, this exhibit will allow fairgoers to witness a cow giving birth to a calf.
In addition, the public will have the opportunity to learn more about the dairy industry, animal agriculture, veterinary science and the birthing process. This exhibit is coordinated by the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition and Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
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